Good morning! Micron announced blockbuster earnings with data center revenue jumping 11x. Google launched Gemini 4 Argon, which it says is its most advanced AI model. And Sycamore Partners, the private equity owner of Walgreens, is nearing a deal to sell British pharmacy chain Boots to the Weston family for ~$9 billion.

Bill Ackman is looking to raise third-party capital to boost returns at Howard Hughes, emulating Warren Buffett. Sydney Sweeney-backed prediction market Novig quadrupled its valuation to $2 billion after her viral ad this month. And Goldman's CEO-in-waiting faces the tough task of keeping his deputies happy.

Plus: Private credit firms are tooling up for takeovers as borrower stress builds, the gap between the rich and the very, very rich is getting wider, and 3 steps for dealing with toxic people.

Petrarch is building a new asset class around a company’s operational data. If you are in private credit or distressed assets, learn more about them here.

SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Ken Griffin University

The ultra-rich are always finding new ways to spend their money and apparently, once you’ve collected the yachts, private islands and T. rexes, the next frontier might be building your own college.

Ken Griffin, the hedge-fund billionaire behind Citadel, is donating $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon University in what will be the largest individual gift in higher-education history. $2 billion of the donation will fund an entirely new 35-acre campus in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, and another $1 billion will go to CMU’s flagship campus in Pittsburgh. Griffin will also join the university’s board of trustees, and Carnegie’s computer science school will be renamed after him.

Griffin and CMU have big plans for the Miami campus, which they eventually want to scale to more than 3,500 students and create 900 jobs between professors and staff. The Miami campus will lean heavily into CMU’s bread and butter, including AI and computing. Miami will also specialize in offering national security and climate resilience programs and even offer venture studios. 

And if the Miami campus turns into a strong recruiting pipeline for Citadel, might turn out to be a pretty good investment for Griffin too. Citadel already recruits heavily from CMU’s pipeline of computer scientists and quantitative engineers, and bringing thousands of them to Miami could be a strong crop of future Citadel quants. 

Griffin has now poured billions into South Florida and has funded everything from hospitals and schools to museums and other cultural institutions. And as Griffin put it, great American cities are anchored by great universities. So rather than waiting decades for Miami to develop another one, he’s spending $2 billion to help bring one of the country’s best tech universities to the city.

Takeaway: Miami has already proven it can attract money. Griffin is betting billions that it can build the institutions and talent to keep it there. Since moving Citadel from Chicago four years ago, he's poured money into Miami's hospitals, schools, museums and public spaces, and now he's helping bring one of America's best computer-science programs to his backyard. Wall Street South is starting to look less like a tax migration and more like Griffin's personal city-building project.

PRESENTED BY PETRARCH

Finding the “Diamond” in Distressed Assets

A company in trouble sells what it can: inventory, real estate, equipment, and intellectual property all have buyers lined up. The thing nobody lines up for is the data the business generated every day it operated. This includes the emails, project files, payment records, and site documentation that pile up over years. That material has real value, but nobody can touch it in raw form, because it is full of names, addresses, faces, and logos that expose both the people in it and the company that produced it.

But now, credit and bankruptcy firms are trusting Petrarch with this task. The firm buys the material and strips out everything traceable, leaving the operational knowledge without the risk attached to it. They’ve built an asset class out of operational data, and buyers will line up for that.

Book a demo to see how they do it.

HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Micron beats on earnings and issues strong guidance as data center revenue jumps 11-fold (CNBC)

• Google rolls out Gemini 4 Argon, its most advanced AI model (CNBC)

• Walgreens owner Sycamore nears deal to sell British pharmacy chain Boots (WSJ)

• Sydney Sweeney-backed Novig quadruples valuation to $2 billion (WSJ)

• Ackman plans to raise outside capital in push to emulate Buffett (BB)

• Goldman's heir apparent faces tough task keeping deputies happy (BB)

• Private credit firms tool up for takeovers as borrower stress builds (BB)

• The gap between the rich and the very, very rich is getting wider (WSJ)

• KKR sees Europe needing $800 billion a year for infrastructure (BB)

• JPMorgan plans to plow $1 billion into Michigan manufacturing (BB)

• Hormel Foods to buy Brakebush Brothers for about $1.06 billion (WSJ)

• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reports more than $250 million in income last year (CNBC)

• Eli Lilly says closely watched combo obesity regimen boosts weight loss in mid-stage trial (CNBC)

• Bull and bear case for Anthropic's IPO (Axios)

• Why the hot IPO market appears to be cooling (Axios)

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Market Update

• Stocks closed mostly lower as technology led while most other sectors were flat to lower; the 10-year Treasury yield rose to around 5.29%.

• WTI crude traded just above $90.

• Headline PCE inflation eased to 3.4% year over year in August, from 3.7% in July, with core PCE at 3.0%.

Economic Data

• Q2 real GDP growth was revised up to a 2.2% annualized rate from 1.5%.

• Real consumer spending rose 0.6% in August, its strongest monthly gain since March of last year.

• Real final sales to private domestic purchasers grew at a 4.6% annualized pace, pointing to robust private demand.

Labor Market

• ADP showed private payrolls rose 90,000 in September, above the 70,000 expectation, with broad-based hiring.

• Friday's nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show 94,000 jobs added, following August's 162,000 gain.

• Continued job growth and low layoffs should keep supporting household spending through year-end.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) United Therapeutics ($UTHR) +13% after the pharmaceutical company won a critical patent fight for one of its drugs.

• (–) Moderna ($MRNA) -5% because Citi downgraded the stock to Sell, prompting investors to lock in gains.

• (–) Cerebras Systems ($CBRS) -9% after a report suggested OpenAI's new "Ultrafast" inference tier is not running on Cerebras hardware.

Prediction Markets

• ISM manufacturing numbers have been holding strong from month to month. September numbers look to be the same.

• Trade on real-world events with Kalshi. Use code OWS to get a $10 bonus when you trade $10.

Private Dealmaking

• Hertha Metals, a green steel producer, raised $134 million

• Jeeves, a stablecoin-native banking platform for enterprises, raised $110 million

• Efficient Computer, a developer of energy-efficient processors, raised more than $97 million

• Xapien, a background check and due diligence startup, raised $56 million

• HyImpulse, a German launch services startup, raised around $54 million

• Conveo, a provider of custom insights for big brands, raised $50 million

For more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

BOOK OF THE DAY

The Greater Game

Description:
Dan Sullivan and John Bowen present a 25-year framework for entrepreneurs who want to move beyond incremental growth and build businesses capable of creating extraordinary value, freedom, and lasting impact. Drawing on Sullivan's four decades of coaching entrepreneurs and Bowen's work with ultra-high-net-worth business owners, the authors introduce frameworks including the 10 Greater Measurements and Entrepreneurial Dashboard. The book focuses on shifting from founder-dependent businesses toward scalable organizations, building greater autonomy, developing teams, strengthening security, and turning entrepreneurial strengths into compounding advantages. Rather than simply setting bigger goals, Sullivan and Bowen argue that entrepreneurs need to fundamentally rethink how they measure progress and design their businesses.

Book Length: 288 pages
Release Date: May 26, 2026

Ideal For:
Entrepreneurs, CEOs, business owners, investors, financial advisors, and executives focused on scaling companies, building wealth, creating greater personal freedom, and designing businesses that can compound in value over decades.

“Exponential growth begins when you stop measuring success by how much more you can do and start designing a system that can create far more without depending on you.”

DAILY VISUAL

IPO Market Appears to Be Cooling

PRESENTED BY STELRIX

Family Offices Grew 31% in Five Years

There are now over 8,000 single family offices worldwide, up 31% in five years, and Deloitte projects 10,720 by 2030. “Single Family Offices” are private firms that exist to serve exactly one family.

Beyond picking investments, a family office’s real job is running the family balance sheet like a corporate treasury. Liquidity comes from credit, not sales. Real estate, tax bills, and new deals get funded by borrowing against the portfolio which allows it to continue compounding untouched. It’s why the ultra-wealthy rarely show up as sellers.

Stelrix brings that treasury function, in the form of an investment-backed credit card, to individual investors without the nine-figure minimum.

Learn more about how the wealthy spend through their Instagram and sign-up for their gold card waitlist today.

DAILY ACUMEN

Volatility Drag

A 50 percent loss needs a 100 percent gain to get back to even. Gain 50 percent, then lose 50 percent, and you are down 25 percent, not flat. Averages lie about compounding.

The rule of thumb is that your compound return is roughly your average return minus half the variance. A portfolio averaging 10 percent with 20 percent volatility compounds closer to 8. Cut the volatility to 10 percent and it compounds at about 9.5.

This is why avoiding large losses matters more than chasing large gains. Volatility is not just uncomfortable. It is a direct tax on the return you actually keep.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• Why emotions drive you to spend

• How to protect your nest egg when inflation is ballooning

• Emotionally intelligent couples ask this question every morning

• A 3-step plan for dealing with toxic people

• A Yale professor’s 3 rules for happiness

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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